How to Corrupt a Child
by Selene Illusinia
Summary: [Hodge-Podge Family of Three] It's Darcy's second birthday and her whole, strange family is there. And they all appear to want to corrupt her. Presents abound, cake is had, and the unnecessary commentary is always necessary. Featuring Daddy Phil, Dada Clint, "Grandpa" Nick, "Aunt Maria", "Aunt Nat", and "Uncle J" (Also known as Jasper).


**Warning right now, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Phil Coulson are a little OOC. This is mostly because I had to guess how they would act away from SHIELD, explosions, and people trying to kill them. I apologize if this bothers anyone.**

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"Alright Darce, blow out the candles!" encouraged Clint as he knelt beside the two year old.

Darcy offered him a toothy grin before she turned back to the cake and did as she'd been told, extinguishing the two candles on her birthday cake. Around her, the small gathering of guests cheered her on. Small gathering meaning 'Grandpa' Nick, 'Aunt' Maria, 'Uncle' Jasper, and 'Aunt' Natasha. Her small, hodgepodge of a family. It made Clint smile.

"Great job, Darcy," applauded Nick with a grin, ruffling the little girl's hair gently.

Phil knelt down to hug his daughter, a sad smile on his face. Her little arms went around his neck, letting him pick her up off the chair so Clint could get in with the knife to cut the cake. Carrot, at Phil's request. It was only slightly healthier than the other types of cake, but it was still healthier. Plus, Darcy loves carrots.

Plating pieces for everyone who wanted one, Clint started handing out slices while Phil carried Darcy towards the living room where a small mountain of presents waited for her. At Natasha's questioning look, he explained, his voice dropping low. "Phil wants her to open her presents _before_ she makes a giant mess out of her cake. And believe me, she'll make a giant mess."

"I was at her birthday party last year," reminded Natasha with a smile. "Not that I think you could forget such a thing."

"Forget being called a blind, love-struck fool by my cold assassin of a partner?" asked Clint, feigning insult. "Never!"

Shaking her head, Natasha swiped one of the plates of cake from the table and narrowed her eyes slightly at Clint. She brandished one of the forks set out menacingly at him. "One word about girlish figures and cakes, and I will stab you." To emphasize this point, she drove the prongs of the fork into the cake slice forcefully.

"I'd never dream of commenting on your dancer's figure, Tasha," assured Clint, knowing she would probably smack him for it. When she waved the fork at him threateningly again, he just shrugged. "You should see what Phil can do with a spoon."

"You should see what I can do with a spoon," remarked Hill as she took her own cake from the table with a shake of her head. "Now, I'm pretty sure Phil is expecting us in the living room children."

"Darcy is growing impatient," called Phil from somewhere in the direction of the coffee table. Darcy's own parroted cry of 'impaytant!' caused a huge grin to break across Clint's face, even as a few tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. She was growing up so fast, it was hard to believe that just two years earlier she'd been this tiny infant that did nothing more than eat, sleep, poop, and cry. The old saying was right, they really did grow up in the blink of an eye.

"Cry and I will mock you for the next three months," warned Natasha, though there was a soft smile on her own lips.

Clint laughed quietly, abandoning the rest of the cake in favor of the living room. There would be plenty left over later anyway, he'd made sure of that. "C'mon Tasha, let's not keep the birthday girl waiting."

Rounding the corner of the wall that separated the living room and kitchen, Clint grinned as Darcy scrambled to her feet upon spotting him. She toddled over to him, wrapping her arms around his leg and blinking upwards with another big grin. "Dada!"

"Yep, Dada's here, Darce," assured Clint as he bent and scooped her up. Immediately, her arms went around his neck as he bounced with her all the way to where Phil was sitting on the ground. "You ready to open your presents?"

"Presents," repeated Darcy, unlooping her arms so she could clap her hands happily and look down at Phil.

Clint carefully passed her to her father before taking a seat on the floor beside his partner. That man looked nothing like the normally pristine agent, having traded his suit and tie that made Clint want to pull at his own collar for a tee shirt with Captain America on it and a pair of worn jeans. His hair was even slightly less kept, though that was mostly Clint's doing. Still, the look was good on Phil. It made him look like the father he is and brought out his human side.

Phil smiled, settling Darcy in his lap before turning to Clint. "Do you have the camera?"

"Right here," assured Clint, flashing the film-based monstrosity he'd been using as his personal camera for years. After the 'digital' camera that R&D had given them to test last year failed so beautifully, Clint wasn't taking any changes. They only hadn't completely lost all photos of the event because Clint had been using his camera as well.

Nodding, Phil turned his focus solely on his little girl. "Alright Darcy, what do you want to open first?"

Idly, Clint leaned back against the coffee table and stretched his legs out in front of him. He felt a hand brush along his shoulder, drawing his attention to Natasha as she took a seat on the chair closest to him and directly opposite where Jasper was sitting in the opposite chair near Phil. Nick and Maria, by contrast, had taken the sofa on the other side of the coffee table, though both were leaning forward to watch like excited grandparents. It always shocked Clint how much like a real family their hodgepodge group is.

"This one!" Darcy's little voice cut through the room as she selected her present and pulled at it. Phil helped her move the medium-sized box so it was resting on the ground in front of her where she was sitting on his lap. Her little hands tugged at the multicolored paper a little, only to be stopped by Phil as he pointed to the attached tag.

"Hold on, Darcy, let's see who it's from," advised Phil, his fingers nimbly flipping the tag around so Darcy could see the name. "You know your alphabet, right Darcy?"

"Right," confirmed Darcy, looking up at Phil expectantly.

"Alright, let's read the tag," encouraged Phil, his finger pointing at each letter in the name.

Automatically, Darcy began naming the letters. "A. U. N. T. M. A. R. I. A."

"Right," applauded Phil. "That spells 'Aunt Maria'."

"Aunt Maria," repeated Darcy, her head swiveling away to look at Maria.

"Right, Aunt Maria," confirmed Phil, redrawing Darcy's attention to the package. "Alright Darcy, go ahead and open it."

Grinning excitedly, the little girl picked and tore at the packaging with the unadulterated gusto only children could achieve. The moment was ruined a second later when she became distracted by the stick-on bow that had been on the box. Clint chuckled as he snapped a photo of Darcy examining the bow before he carefully took it from her and stuck it on her head. She blinked at him in confusion, her little hands reaching for the bow. He quickly snapped another photo before she pulled it from her hair. Phil easily got her back on track by tapping the box, amid chuckles from the gathered group.

"I think the bow is her favorite part of the present, Maria," remarked Nick, shooting Maria a smirk.

She just shrugged. "Children are easily entertained. Just like certain covert government agency heads I know."

"Now now, let's not make fun of Director Sinclare while he's not here to defend himself," admonished Nick, though the way he was grinning said he completely agreed.

"Sinclare? I was referring to you, Director," teased Maria, laughing when Nick threw a pillow at her.

"Dollies!" exclaimed Darcy, drawing everyone's attention back to the little girl. Sure enough, the box had a picture of several dolls on the front, all wooden, cloth, and yarn. Immediately, she tried to pull the box open, her fingers tracing the edges in an attempt to determine how to reach the box's contents.

"Easy, Darcy," muttered Phil as he guided her fingers to the tab holding the box shut and helped her dislodge it. She pulled the box open immediately and began trying to remove the dolls from inside, managing to slide the cardboard out before Phil could step in and help again. Clint made sure to get lots of pictures.

"Four dollies, Daddy," informed Darcy, her eyes scanning the dolls still firmly stuck to their cardboard backing. Instantly, she began pointing to each of them as she counted them off. "1. 2. 3. 4."

"That's impressive, Darcy," remarked Jasper with a touch of a soft smile. "Who taught you to count like that?"

"Dada," replied Darcy, looking over at Clint with a big grin on her face. "Dada count fwetchings with me."

"Fletchings, really Barton?" teased Natasha with a smirk. "You're corrupting her already."

"Hey, she's my kid too!" argued Clint, though he was still smirking.

Then his words caught up with his brain and he realized with an icy sense of dread what he'd said. Yeah, everyone referred to him as Darcy's 'other dad' and joked that he was as much her father as Phil. The problem was, he'd never actually repeated those words out loud and he'd definitely never asked Phil what he thought. It hurt to think that Phil might not want Clint to be considered Darcy's second parent, but for all he knew, Phil just saw him as a live-in babysitter where Darcy is concerned. Especially given Marcy had only been dead two years.

"Clint's right," stated Phil calmly, making Clint's head snap towards him. "She's bound to have some exposure to archery with Clint around. It's impossible to believe she won't pick up _some_ of her parents...interests."

_Parents._ Plural. Phil saw Clint as one of Darcy's parents. As Darcy's other father. Relief flooded Clint like a tidal wave. He hadn't even realized how important it was that Phil consider Clint Darcy's other dad until right then, when he'd realized he didn't know how Phil felt. Well, now he did.

"See? I'm allowed to corrupt her early if I want to," argued back Clint, though he couldn't keep the grin from his face. Natasha just shook her head and leaned back against the couch.

"Sadly, it's true," confirmed Phil as he easily dislodged the dolls from Darcy's grip. "Say thank you to Aunt Maria, Darcy."

"Tank you, Aunt Maria!" sang out Darcy, grinning at Maria brightly.

"You're welcome, Darcy," replied Maria with a smile. "I figured you should get at least one girl's toy today."

"Darcy, why don't you open another present?" suggested Jasper as he shifted to squat down on the floor beside Phil. From the pile, he easily picked one that hadn't been readily visible. "How about this one?"

"Is that yours, Jasper?" asked Maria curiously, all eyes on Darcy as she took the long, narrow box from her 'Uncle'.

"No, Clint I believe," replied Jasper with a shrug. "Mine's buried somewhere in there."

"I'm sure we'll get to it," assured Nick calmly. "Now let the child open her own da- _dang_ presents in whatever order she wants. It's her birthday."

"Thank you, Nick," thanked Phil, glancing at his old friend over the table. The thanks being for Nick watching his language. Darcy had already picked up a few (mild) choice words from Clint and didn't need to learn any more from her 'Grandpa'.

In Phil's lap, Darcy located the name tag on the present and started naming the letters out loud. "D.A.D.A."

"Do you know what that spells, Darcy?" asked Clint with a smile, drawing her attention to him. Smirking, he pointed at himself as a way of helping her out.

"Dah, ah, dah, ah," sounded out Darcy carefully, her eyes moving over the letters. "Dada?"

"That's right Darcy," confirmed Phil, a proud grin sliding over his face. "That spells Dada."

"Did she just read her first word?" asked Maria in amazement.

Clint felt pride swell through his chest as the full impact of what Darcy had just done hit him. "Yes, yes she did." And he shot a flurry of photos to memorialize it.

"You've got a smart kid there, Phil," complimented Nick with a grin. "Smarter than you, that's for sure."

"She must surpass you as well, then," replied Phil with a touch of a smirk.

Nick just laughed. "Careful there, Phil. You shouldn't insult a superior officer."

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever meet one," countered Phil as he dislodged a piece of wrapping paper that was stuck to Darcy's hand. Then he caught sight of the present in front of Darcy and groaned. "Really, Clint?"

"What?" asked Clint innocently. He'd known Phil would moan about this particular present, but it really was harmless and Clint couldn't help it when he'd seen it at the store. "She can't hurt herself or anyone else with it. Besides, it's never too early to learn."

In front of Darcy is a toy bow and arrow set, complete with a paper target that could be hung on the wall. The arrows are tipped with suction cups so they can't hurt anyone and the bow is held together with a string that won't snap like the one on a real bow does once it's released. Clint might not have a lot of knowledge in the parenting department, but he knows archery and what's safe for a little kid.

Darcy nearly tackles Clint in her excitement. "Tank you! Tank you, tank you, tank you!" Releasing Clint, she picked up the toy and grinned at Phil. "I get to swoot like Dada!"

Clint could hear various snickers behind him but ignored them all in order to snap photos. Lots of photos. Darcy had been asking for half a year if she'd ever get to shoot like him. Two didn't seem like too young a time to start. And despite Phil's put-upon expression, Clint knew his lover was equally happy about it. After all, Clint wasn't the only parent Darcy had to bother about things like archery lessons.

"With training, Darcy," confirmed Phil, smiling at his young daughter. "Now, choose another one. We can play when everything is open."

As Darcy toddled over to the presents, Clint slid next to Phil and casually rested one of his hands on his lover's own. It was a simple gesture that said so much: thank you for letting me share something so precious to me with her, I'm sorry if I overstepped my boundaries, and most important of all: I love you. For his part, Phil simply turned his hand over to lace his fingers with Clint's own which conveyed his response to the Clint's unspoken words: you're welcome, you're forgiven, I love you too. A simple response which never ceased to soothe every nerve in Clint's body.

"This one!" Darcy's happy shout drew Clint's attention back to the little girl who they were celebrating today. He wanted to kick himself for letting his mind stray. It was his daughter's special day and she deserved all of the attention.

She came hurrying back to her parents, dropping be between them with a medium package and a tag that indicated it was from "Grandpa Nick" attached. The wrapping paper was bright pink and covered with an array of multicolored 'happy birthday's printed on the surface. An image of Fury wrapping a child's birthday present in such bright paper came to mind and it was only Phil's warning look that kept him from bursting into laughter.

"Who's it from, Darcy?" asked Phil gently, his hand flipping the tag around so the little girl could see it.

"Grandpa Nick!" exclaimed Darcy, her finger pointing to a small doodle of a man who looked like a pirate that was in the corner of the tag. The fact that he let the little girl refer to him as her 'pirate grandpa' was still incredible to Clint.

Behind him, Jasper snorted a bit, clearly trying to restrain his laughter. Apparently, Clint wasn't the only person who had a hard time imagining Nick with his fingers covered in tape wrapping the preset currently in Darcy's lap. Or the only person who found it funny. Every head in the room turned to Jasper, Nick's eyes narrowing dangerously at the man.

"Is something funny, Jasper?" asked Nick, his voice friendly but with a slight edge that said he is still extremely dangerous and not to push him. They didn't use 'Agent' when Darcy was around if it was someone from the 'family'.

"No sir- er, Nick. Nothing at all," assured Jasper with a smile, though he looked back at Darcy quickly. "What is it Darcy?"

The little girl blinked at Jasper for a moment before looking at the wrapped present and beginning to tear at the paper. And there was a lot of paper. Apparently, it wasn't as well wrapped as it had looked. Clint could see a lot of individual sheets that had been taped on in an attempt to cover where the paper didn't. In the end, they had a small pile of wrapping paper and a box with a pirate ship inside.

"Pirates!" shouted Darcy giddily, nearly bouncing in her seat. Her love for pirates stemmed from her belief that Nick is, in fact, a pirate. Complete with flying pirate ship. Clint hadn't felt the need to correct her; the girl was two years old and to her the only people who wore eye-patches were pirates. Apparently, Nick didn't feel the need to either.

"Now you've got your very own pirate ship, Darcy," informed Nick, nodding his head. Clint just managed to get a photo of Darcy with her new toy before she was running around the coffee table to throw herself into Nick's arms. He made sure to snap a few more photos, just offering Nick a grin when the one-eyed man glared at him. "I'd better not find copies of those plastered around SHIELD."

Clint waved his boss's concerns off easily. Family time is family time and it never leaves the house. No matter how adorable the photos were going to be. "I'll be sure to give you a copy, Nicky."

"Thank you Grandpa!" interrupted Darcy, drawing Nick's attention back to her and probably saving Clint from harm. For now.

Smiling at the little girl, Nick gave her one last hug before releasing her. "You're welcome, Darcy."

Running back around the coffee table as best as her little legs could, Darcy dropped back down in Phil's lap happily and picked up her present. "Look Daddy, this one looks like Grandpa! And these ones look like Aunt Maria and Uncle Jasper. And there's you and Dada"

Clint almost fell over laughing when he realized that, yes, one of the dolls in the set did look like Nick. Then he caught sight of another one with blond hair holding a bow. And another one dressed in something that looked remarkably like a suit. There was even a red-head that looked remarkably like Natasha. "Nick., is this us actually us?"

"Mhm," confirmed Nick, nodding slightly. "Had it custom made for Darcy. That way she could play pirates with duplicates of her family, rather than some mass produced duplicates that every kid has."

Phil furrowed his brow as he stared at the present. "You really shouldn't have, Nick. This much effort wasn't necessary."

"Nonsense," dismissed Nick. "She recognizes who they are. That alone makes it worth while."

"That should prove entertaining," muttered Jasper. Smiling slightly, he glanced at Nick. "How did you manage that, anyway?"

"Connections, Jasper," replied Nick mysteriously, looking at Darcy. "Choose another gift, darlin'."

Looking up from her pirate ship, Darcy nodded and wondered back to the pile. She returned to Phil's lap a moment later with a package wrapped in shiny silver paper. Silently, she dropped between Clint and Phil, pointing at the tag and stating the letters. "U.N.C.L.E. J."

"That says 'Uncle J'," read Phil, his finger sliding beneath each word as he said it.

Darcy nodded, looking up at Jasper before she tore into the silver paper with relish. She pulled a small stack of books out of the pile of paper snow a moment later, a grin on her face. "Books!"

Behind them, Jasper laughed. "I was worried it might be too soon."

"Hardly," dismissed Phil, picking up the books and examining them. Clint couldn't see the titles, but one of them didn't look to be in English. "Though I think Darcy should focus on learning one language before she begins attempting to master another."

"She's already well on her way to learning Russian," remarked Natasha mildly, reaching out a hand for the non-English book. Phil handed both over for Natasha's examination. "Latin and Japanese learning books, not bad choices for third and fourth languages."

"I figured you had the Slavic languages covered," explained Jasper with a shrug. "Japanese and Latin seemed like good additions. Those books are meant for children too, so she should be able to grasp a basic understanding pretty easily."

"Alright, let's not confuse the child here," broke in Nick. "English is hard enough. Let her learn that and then maybe look into other languages."

"Actually, the younger you start the better," pointed out Natasha. "Besides, Darcy is a bright child and knowing multiple languages is a valuable life skill."

"Maybe if you're an assassin, but I wasn't aware Darcy was being groomed for that role," countered Jasper.

Phil broke in then, clearly having had enough of this discussion. "She isn't being groomed for any role. Thank you, Jasper. Clint and I have been discussing the value of introducing Darcy to multiple languages and these will be very helpful. She seems to have a solid grasp of English, so I'm not concerned she will loose that knowledge if she begins studying additional languages."

"Besides, multiple languages are useful for a lot of jobs," added Clint, taking the books back from Natasha and handing them back to Darcy. "It was in one of the books I read."

Natasha smirked a little, raising an eyebrow. "You can read?"

"Ha ha," muttered Clint, shooting Natasha dark look when the woman just laughed.

Darcy crawled into Clint's lap then, drawing his attention to the little girl. His daughter (God he'd never get tired of saying or hearing that) blinked up at him curiously and opened one of the books. "Dada, what's this say?"

Leaning over, he looked at the word Darcy was pointing at and smiled. "That's 'hello' in Japanese. It's pronounced 'konnichiwa '."

"Ko-knee-ke-wa ," repeated Darcy, trying to form the words Clint had.

Nick applauded a little. "That was pretty good, Darcy."

"See? She likes it," stated Jasper with a satisfied smile.

Phil just groaned. "Can everyone please stop trying to corrupt our daughter?"

"Clint is one of the ones doing the corrupting," pointed out Maria with a touch of a smirk.

"And I'm allowed to corrupt her," reminded Clint, sticking his tongue out childishly at Maria and handing Phil his camera. He heard the shutter go off multiple times as Phil photographed them, though Clint's focus was on Darcy as she flipped through the pages. Every now and then, she'd stop to examine a picture, but otherwise just kept flipping through. When she'd finished with the Japanese book, Clint subtly slipped it away. "Hey Darce, go grab another present. We can play with everything later, I promise."

"Okay Dada," replied Darcy, pushing herself up and toddling back to the two remaining presents.

Smiling, Clint looked over at Phil in what was supposed to be a quick smile of slight exhaustion. Instead, Phil was looking at him with an expression Clint wasn't completely sure how to interpret. It was like looking at pure, bottled love splashed across the man's face. Leaning over, Clint dropped his voice near Phil's ear. "Phil?"

Phil's forehead just came to rest against Clint's own. "I love you and I'm so glad that you're here."

The words struck straight at Clint's heart, making it swell. If their colleagues weren't in the room, he would kiss the man in front of him. As it was, it was difficult not to.

"Would you two just kiss already?" requested Nick with a huff. Okay, apparently it wasn't that difficult to figure out what he wanted to do. "Seriously, you two are going to set this house on fire if you don't."

Chuckling slightly, Phil leaned over and pressed a quick, but meaningful kiss to Clint's lips. It wasn't really enough, but it would have to do. Clint and Phil had agreed a long time ago to downplay the physical aspect of their relationship in front of Darcy. Just like normal parents would.

'Later' mouthed Clint, offering Phil a smile as he regretfully pulled back.

Phil nodded, Darcy popping up in front of Clint before the other man could say anything. "Dada, help me! It's too big to move!"

"Too big to move, huh?" asked Clint as he stood up and offered his hand to Darcy.

She tugged gently, leading him to one of her presents. A very large present. "Can you move it?"

"Sure Darce," assured Clint, picking up the box and bringing it over to sit in front of Phil. He then picked up Darcy and dropped her back in her father's lap. "There you go."

"Thank you, Dada!" replied Darcy happily before she looked at the box in front of her. The tag was tied to the large bow, which Darcy quickly reached for and accidentally pulled off. "Oops."

"It's alright Darcy," assured Phil, flipping the tag around in her hand. "Do you know who it's from?"

Darcy's eyes fell back to the tag, staring at it for a moment before she pointed to the first word. "Aunt."

On the couch, Maria shook her head. "That's amazing. I can't believe she can already read!"

"I wouldn't call recognizing a few words reading," countered Jasper, who yelped when Maria reached over to smack his head. He looked ready to object, but a nasty look from Maria and one from Nick made him shut up quickly.

Darcy looked confused, tilting her head slightly at Jasper before looking up at Clint and Phil. "Am I reading?"

"Yes, you are Darcy," confirmed Phil gently, shooting Jasper a 'look what you did' look. Jasper at least had the decency to look chastised.

Clint quickly pointed to the next part of the tag. "Can you sound this one out, Darce?"

Blinking at the tag, Darcy slowly sounded out the letters she was seeing. "Nuh-ah-tuh."

"Right," confirmed Clint gently. "Try saying it a little faster."

"Nuh-ah-tuh," repeated Darcy, looking over at Natasha. "Nat?"

"Very good, Darcy," congratulated Phil. "Can you read it all together?"

"Aunt Nat," read Darcy with a grin, smiling over at Natasha.

Natasha smiled softly back, nodding to the present. "Open it, Darcy."

Nodding, the little girl tore into the paper with the same gusto as before. Scraps of paper fell to the floor as she tore through the wrapping, only stopping when she'd uncovered the image on the front of the box. "Doll house!"

"A doll house?" repeated Clint, looking at Natasha with a raised eyebrow. "Really Tasha?"

"Yes, really," stated Natasha with a scowl. "Maria said it would be the perfect gift for a little girl."

"Natasha wanted to give her knives," added Maria, leaning back against the couch.

"Knives?" repeated Phil, giving Natasha a weary look.

Natasha just shrugged. "It's never too early."

"To do what?" asked Clint, giving his partner a disbelieving look. "Teach her knife safety? How to throw them?"

"How do use them," replied Natasha with a roll of her eyes. "How do defend herself."

"Don't worry, we've got that covered," assured Clint, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to Darcy. She was still staring at the image of the dollhouse on the outside of the box. It was wooden, large, and Clint would probably have to assemble it, but looked sturdy and like it could hold up to some wear. "You like it, Darcy?"

Hearing her name drew Darcy's attention away from her present and sent her flying at Natasha, her little arms wrapping around the female assassin's waist. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

For half a second, Clint expected Natasha to freak out and rapidly snapped photos of the event. Tasha would probably kill him later, but seeing his partner be hugged by a two year old was too hilarious/adorable to pass up. The glare she sent him promised pain, even as she wrapped her arms uncertainly around Darcy and hugged the young child. "You're welcome, Darcy. I'm glad you like it."

"I love it," confirmed Darcy, pulling back to look excitedly up at Natasha. "Thank you so, so, so, so much!"

"Alright Darcy, that's enough," instructed Phil, drawing Darcy's attention back to him. "Aunt Nat doesn't like to be hugged."

Pouting slightly, Darcy released Natasha and looked at the ground sadly. "I'm sorry Aunt Nat."

"It's alright Darcy," assured Natasha gently, patting her shoulder. "Why don't you go back to your father and open your last present, hm? Then you can have cake."

Darcy nodded, her mind distracted by the idea of cake and a present. Toddling back to Clint and Phil, she looked at the large gift bag which was the only present left for her to open. Phil didn't make her retrieve the gift this time though, instead reaching out and snagging the edge of the bag.

"Alright Darcy, this is the last one," informed Phil, positioning the bag in front of his daughter.

She looked up at him and smiled, climbing into his lap. "Do I need to read the gift tag, Daddy?"

"How else will you know who it's from?" asked Phil gently, finding the tag on the present easy.

"Because there's one person it could be from!" reasoned Darcy, looking up at Phil. "You."

Phil chuckled slightly, nodding. "Well you aren't wrong. Alright, go ahead."

Cheering, Darcy grabbed the bag and pulled it sideways. Phil, being the reasonable person he is, had avoided wrapping paper in favor of a bag. It definitely reduced the mess. Clint got some good photos of Darcy practically falling into the bag as she fished for her present, reappearing a moment latter holding a teddy bear. But it wasn't just any teddy bear.

"Do you know what that is, Darcy?" asked Phil curiously, his excitement barely contained. Well, Phil's version of barely contained. It was still pretty well contained, but his eyes were a little more star struck and there was an excitement in his voice, just barely detectable.

"Teddy bear?" guessed Darcy, looking at the bear and touching it's black leather mask and the button-like red felt sown to the front.

"Close," replied Phil, settling his daughter in his lap. "He's called 'Bucky Bear'."

"Bucky Bear," repeated Darcy, staring at the teddy. "Like Bucky from the stories about Cawtain America?"

Natasha scoffed slightly. "Now who's corrupting her."

"We all knew Phil would pass on his love of Captain America to his daughter," countered Nick with a shake of his head. "There was no way he wouldn't!"

Phil sent a weak glare at all of them before refocusing on Darcy, speaking to her softly. "Yes Darcy, just like Bucky from the Captain America stories. That's who he's based on."

A slow smile spread over Darcy's face as she stared at the bear and then up at her father. "Tank you, Daddy."

"You're welcome, Darcy," replied Phil as he hugged Darcy. "Just be careful with it, alright?"

"I will," promised Darcy, a completely serious expression on her face. Carefully, she stood up with Bucky Bear in her arms and gave Phil a hopeful look. "Can I have cake now?"

"Yes Darcy," assured Phil, "you can have cake."

"Yay, cake!" exclaimed Darcy before she went darting towards the kitchen.

Phil groaned slightly as he stood up, though Clint stopped him partway up to give him a kiss. "If you wanna handle the wrapping paper, I'll handle cake."

"No," murmured Phil quietly. "I've got to get that bear away from her before she has cake so it doesn't get dirty it's first night here. I'm not sure I can wash a teddy bear that's that old."

"That old- Phil, did you give her an _actual_ Bucky Bear doll?" asked Jasper, his eyebrows raised in a very rare moment of surprise. "She's two."

"Yes, she is," confirmed Phil, giving Jasper a raised eyebrow. "I'm well aware of how old my _daughter_ is."

Maria shook her head. "I don't get it, why give her something so rare at such a young age?"

"Because I want to teach her to value her toys now, before she hits a destructive age," explained Phil.

"Besides," added Clint, "it's a doll related to Captain America. If you don't think Darce has heard every lecture in the world about how great Captain America was and all the amazing adventures he had, then you don't know Phil. She'll cherish that teddy bear."

Phil nodded in agreement as Darcy's voice carried out of the kitchen. "Daddy, can I have a cake please?"

Clint chuckled softly, patting Phil's shoulder. "The princess awaits."

Chuckling himself, Phil climbed to his feet and headed into the kitchen. "Give me a minute, Darcy. Go wash your hands!"

The sound of scampering footfalls and a stool moving floated from the kitchen as Phil entered, leaving everyone else in the living room amid a wrapping paper snowfall. Clint chuckled slightly and set his camera aside, moving the gifts into a pile and beginning to pick up the paper. From the kitchen, he could hear the quiet chatter of Darcy and Phil talking. It was a soothing sound that reminded him of family.

On the couch, Nick leaned casually back, turning to talk to Natasha while Jasper poked at Maria's patience. It was like having a family again. A real family. With children and grandparents and the works. It wasn't traditional, but it was comfort and home. Everything he'd wanted to growing up that he couldn't have. And as Darcy came running out of the kitchen with her new teddy bear in her arms and threw herself at Clint, babbling about something or another, and Phil was standing leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, he felt like his heart might burst. This was his family. His home. They were his, and he was holding on for dear life.


End file.
